A/N: Wednesday update because uhhhh work has been relentless and the words were not wording 😅 Right then, we're going on a lil Trip next chapter so place your final bets on where Addie's off to this time. Done? Good, now enjoy the chapter and remember to trust me ❤

Chapter 73 Content Warnings: N/A

Chapter 73: take me to your cities

Addie

With most of the city out dancing and revelling, Lady Opheodra's home is a haven of comparative quiet. The bustle of late-night dancers and tavern-goers hums outside, far less deafening than the dance's chaotic fun.

Addie sinks into the settee and sighs in relief. She hasn't sat down for ten minutes put together since she got up this morning.

Opheodra sits in her usual armchair closest to the fireplace, hand hovering near the silver bell that summons Mossmire, her Marshwiggle butler.

"Tea?"

"Thank you, no," Addie says. "Too warm."

"Some cool cider, then?"

Addie perks up. She'll gladly drink anything cool. "That'd be lovely."

The silver bell tings, and in pads Mossmire, his long, pale face as drawn as if he just witnessed a kingdom's fiery annihilation.

"My lady." Mossmire bows. "Do you require spirits to mourn Ettinsmoor? Fallen into a crack in the earth or everyone torn to shreds by those wolves, I shouldn't wonder."

"Fetch two cups of cold cider, and that will be all," says Opheodra, without acknowledging the Marshwiggle's morose prediction.

That's right, Caspian mentioned a werewolf pack prowling the moors.

Addie nods after Mossmire's retreating silhouette. "I heard about the wolves. Have they been caught?"

"Two beasts were killed, but the rest still roam. One of my hunting parties chased them into the mountains." Opheodra sighs and shakes her head. "Come, let us speak of other things. What did you find at Cair Paravel?"

Mossmire returns with two mugs. Addie thanks him and takes a long draught, the taste of apples and ginger cooling her tongue.

"We found an ancient archive," Addie says. "It was first-age, all the way back to King Frank I. Most of the records were written in Old Narnian script, so we had to piece that together, too." Addie sags, chin resting in her palm. "It should've had everything."

Opheodra sips her mug of cider. "I assume it did not contain the legends you sought?"

Addie huffs and stares into the dim fireplace. A few coals glow orange, but oddly, their heat doesn't reach into the room. On the mantle, two incense sticks send twin wisps of smoke, perfuming the room with a sweet musk - pine and mint and something else she can't name.

"Some, but not with the details I needed. And then Caspian was constantly around and -"

Opheodra arches an auburn eyebrow. "Caspian? You mean the King?"

Fuck.

Addie hides her face in her hand. "We all got more acquainted than I would've liked on that trip. King Caspian was already heading east, and he insisted on travelling by boat."

"Some call him King Caspian the Seafarer," says Opheodra.

Addie scowls. "I'd rather he went seafaring somewhere else. Or river-faring, I suppose."

Usually she wouldn't indulge in petulance, especially when her and Caspian's past is as patched over as it can be, but Opheodra lets out a laugh and it's… it's nice to stop being so careful for a moment. Opheodra doesn't seem to think less of her for lapsing into a less proper version of herself.

Opheodra covers her mouth, her green eyes glittering in the dim room. "Forgive me, Addie, but most young ladies in this kingdom would swoon to have been in your position."

"What position?" Addie grumbles. "I started the trip seasick."

She's not unaware that most anyone in Narnia - including the girl she was when she first got to know Caspian - would've loved to be on that ship, but most anyone isn't Caspian's ex-lover.

"Sailing with the king of Narnia." Opheodra's smile widens, and she winks. "I imagine the ship kept you all in close quarters."

"Not that close!"

Opheodra sets her mug aside, lips still upturned. "Never mind, then. What did you find in the archive?"

"Mostly family trees, titling papers, inventories, and some court histories." Addie leans further onto the settee arm and fidgets trying to get her legs comfortable. If her shoes weren't dirty from dancing in a field, she'd tuck them beside her. "I did find Queen Helen's personal journal; that was helpful."

"That many documents must have been at least somewhat informative."

"Overall, yes," Addie says. "Trufflehunter - he oversees the day-to-day excavations - was delighted. Said it's the most they've ever found about the Age of Conquest."

Opheodra hums. "Yet you remain unsatisfied? Nothing answered your questions?"

"No. Not yet, that is. I'm planning to go back and keep searching after the solstice." The summer solstice marks the end of the week's celebrations, and hopefully the end of her constantly getting in the way.

"So soon?" Opheodra says, frowning. "You just returned."

Addie tugs the throw pillow from behind her back to her side, a needed cushion between her ribs and the settee arm. Lola won't be happy either.

"I can't go home until I finish this project," Addie says. "Cair Paravel is still my best chance."

Opheodra tilts her head. "What precisely are you seeking? You've never said."

"I'm looking for a… an old artifact, from Narnia's first age. Something the earliest kings might've had, or known of." It's a parcel of truth, and probably the most she can say without going back on her word to keep the rings secret.

Opheodra folds her hands in her lap, her green eyes lit with curiosity. "What sort of artifact? A crown? Perhaps a weapon, a spear?"

Addie hesitates. Doctor Cornelius insisted she never speak of the rings to anyone but himself or Caspian. She trusts Opheodra, but she gave the Doctor her word.

"Just an artifact. I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to say more than that."

Opheodra leans forward and grins, her gaze sharpening gleefully. "Why Addie, is that intrigue I hear?"

"Not intrigue," Addie says. "Just…"

"Personal?"

"Confidential," Addie corrects, though that's not quite it either. "Not mine to tell."

Opheodra sinks back against her chair, a delicate finger tapping her chin. "But it has to do with the Age of Conquest? Narnia's first 900 years?"

"That's right."

Opheodra picks up her mug without drinking, her thumb tracing the handle as she smiles sadly. "My late husband had a love for the Old Dynasty - both Narnia's and Ettinsmoor's. I wonder if his personal collection might be of some use to you."

Addie sips her cider. "Depends. What did he collect?"

"I'm afraid I know not," says Opheodra. "History was his passion, not mine. After he passed, I couldn't bear to sort through his things myself, so everything is boxed away in the manor."

Addie sets her mug aside and tries to remember something of Narnia's relations with Ettinsmoor. Over the centuries, Ettinsmoor's ties with Narnia have been sporadic, defined by brief wars and long isolations. There was the Ettinsmoor War towards the end of the Golden Age, and, more recently, Caspian's campaign three years ago. But in her readings thus far, every reference Addie's found to the northern region was made in passing. Narnian records deemed it a dark, brutish place of dark magic. Witch Country, some called it.

Witch Country.

Addie straightens, tentative hope budding. At Cair Paravel, she read something about Jadis fleeing into the north after Digory planted the Tree of Protection. Could that've been a reference to Ettinsmoor?

"A few old stories called Ettinsmoor 'Witch Country,'" Addie says. "Did the White Witch ever go there?"

"The White Witch?" Opheodra takes a slow sip. "You mean Jadis? Yes, I believe my husband mentioned her a few times. Something about an old Giant kingdom. Jadis was said to have Giant blood in her, you know."

Addie strangles her excitement before it bursts from her lips. According to Chief Dwarf Daganak's writings, which she found at Cair Paravel, Jadis was the witch Digory brought with him, whether on purpose or by accident. If Narnia has no records of the Wood, maybe some writings of Jadis survived the centuries. Maybe Opheodra's husband really did find something useful. What she's been seeking all these months might not be in Narnia, but in Ettinsmoor!

But it's no small thing, to dig through his collections and belongings. This was someone Opheodra loved.

"Are you sure?" Addie says. She'd love to get her hands on them, gods know she would, but not at the expense of Opheodra's grief. Cair Paravel still might turn up something.

But Opheodra smiles, hesitant yet sincere.

"I should like to understand what so captured his imagination," she says in a voice like spun sugar. "I would only ask that you tell me what you find, so I might know him all the better."

"Yes," Addie says. "Of course. Of course." It's a tiny favour in exchange for a new lead, and one blessedly distant from the capital - and Caspian. Opheodra could ask for a hand-written transcription of every word and it wouldn't be too much.

Opheodra tilts her mug back, then sets it aside again, empty. "I'm in your debt, Addie."

"It's the opposite," Addie rushes to say. Opheodra's been a better friend than she could've asked for.

"Not at all."

With sudden cheerfulness, Opheodra lifts her string instrument from the shadows and leans it against her chair, then goes to the fireplace mantle.

"Now then, we have a diary to complete." Opheodra takes a handful of power from a small box and tosses it into the fireplace. The coals flare, a small flame jumping to life. Lavender, vanilla, and sandalwood overtake the woody incense as the pale fire spreads to fill the fireplace.

Opheodra also lifts out a black quill and inkpot and gives them to Addie.

"You did bring it, didn't you?"

Addie pulls the precious book from her skirt pocket and settles in, opening it to a fresh page and dipping the quill into the ink.

"Ready."

Addie's eyes drift closed as Opheodra returns to her chair. The hypnotic strumming begins, and Addie surrenders to it gratefully.

Caspian

In the bright midmorning light streaming through the castle's open windows, Caspian traverses the bustling hallways to Doctor Cornelius' study, leather armour creaking as he walks. He received the professor's written report, but between this week's events, dancing, and feasting, they've had little time to properly discuss Addie's findings at Cair Paravel. Even now, he has little time; the jousting tournament is today, and he is both contestant and king. At Galma's jousting tournament three years ago, he was unhorsed more than he would've liked - twice in one day.

But first, he must speak with Doctor Cornelius in more detail.

A trio of servants toting jugs of steaming water step aside for him. Caspian nods a greeting and continues on his way.

This morning is also one of only two this week that Addie isn't scheduled in the kitchen. Doctor Cornelius said she personally found several clues; he ought to hear them directly from her.

Caspian hesitates before knocking and listens. Two voices murmur behind the door, one steady and gravelled with age and the other crisp, animated, and feminine.

Caspian raps on the door. "Professor?"

The voices stop. "Come in, my king!" calls the Doctor.

With a click of the handle, he enters. Doctor Cornelius and Addie both stand, a pile of notes spread on the table between them. Most of them look like Addie's handwriting - small, blocky letters that mix print and cursive.

"Professor," Caspian greets. "Addie."

Addie curtsies, shallow and perfunctory, and doesn't quite meet his eyes.

"I presume you've come to discuss our research progress?" says the Doctor, straightening and adjusting his spectacles.

"I have." Caspian gestures for them to sit, and pulls a third chair from the table for himself. "Tell me all."

With a quiet groan, Doctor Cornelius eases himself into the left seat, leaving the chair to Caspian's right for Addie. Her skirt brushes his leg as she passes.

Paper rustles as the Doctor picks up a stack of notes, revealing a small lockbox. "Firstly, to review what we know. The yellow rings immediately transport the wielder to the Wood Between Worlds, as we have named the forest. The Wood contains well over a hundred pools. True, Adelaine?"

Addie nods. "There could be more. They stretched as far as I could see."

Caspian shifts in his chair. The Wood presents endless possibilities, an infinite number of worlds and adventures - endless riches waiting to be taken, like gold at the bottom of an island pool. No, better the way be kept guarded or shut off entirely. For Narnia, anyone passing to and from the Wood presents dangers, and for Addie… She's no soldier. She can't defend herself.

Endless worlds, endless dangers.

"Once one enters the Wood," the Doctor continues, "the green rings allow passage through the pools to other worlds. Don a green ring, step into a pool, and you will fall into a world. Presumably, one must not also be wearing a yellow ring."

Elbow on his knee, Caspian cradles his chin in a hand and leans forward. "Yes, I recall. Do we have any indication whether each pool is bound to a specific world?"

Doctor Cornelius shakes his head, brow furrowed as he gestures to a page covered in scribbled and crossed-out theories. "No. We still know nothing of the workings of the pools, nor if they are governed by Aslan's will or some darker magic." He inclines his head to Addie. "However, the desire to slumber, that unnatural peace… those do not strike me as the workings of the Great Lion."

Addie leans forward as well, waving a hand vaguely. "That's true, but it didn't feel sinister either. It just… I don't know, was. Like the air you breathe or the beat of your heart. It was unsettling, but it wasn't good or evil."

Caspian says nothing. He would be wary even if Aslan governed the Wood and the pools, though he could be reasonably sure that if Addie used the rings, she would return to England. But without the Lion's guidance, even if the pools' magic is not evil, it's unpredictable - or at least unknown.

The Doctor looks to Caspian. "Evil can be seductive. I remember well what you told me of the White Witch's servants. We should not trust this Wood to be benevolent."

Addie sighs in frustration. "Uncaring, then. I think it's a place with its own logic - strange, but solvable. If we understand its rules, we can navigate between Narnia and England."

"Possibly," Caspian says. "But we do not. Unless you found something more at Cair Paravel?"

Doctor Cornelius leans across the table, notes extended to Addie. Caspian passes them to her.

Addie flips through the papers, sets a few aside, and focuses on a sketch. Drawn with her light touch, the picture depicts the Wood, five figures arcing between two pools, and a ring in each upper corner. Addie's cramped handwriting spiders across the page with arrows directing the reading logic he doubts anyone but her could decipher at first glance. Yet unlike her writing years ago, now her letters are well-formed - legible, even. England must have given her an education.

"In the Cair's archive, two histories said King Frank I came to Narnia by way of magic rings. I'm almost certain those are the same ones I used." She lays a paper full of translations of Old Narnian script atop her sketch. "More importantly, King Frank wasn't the only passenger - or wielder, I guess. He came with at least four other people and a horse. So, if there were only two sets of rings, each ring can transport more than one person."

Caspian taps his chin. "How many people at most?"

Addie shrugs. "Not sure. If two rings transported six, then at least three is possible. It could be anyone touching the ring-wearer."

Doctor Cornelius sighs and gestures to the lockbox sitting so unassuming on the table. "At day's end, we cannot answer any of these questions without experimentation - that is, using the rings ourselves. With only two pairs, we're limited. Losing any of them could be disastrous."

Use the rings when the only new information they have is that one ring can transport at least three creatures? Did he not explicitly say they would only experiment as a last resort? The situation is not yet so dire.

"Only if we lost both," Addie says. "What if -"

"You mentioned others besides King Frank used the rings," Caspian interrupts. Addie has that look he well remembers and despises, her eyes glinting with determination to do something stupid or rash, consequences be damned. "Who were they?"

Addie's jaw works, but she answers without looking at her notes. "Besides King Frank, there was a boy named Digory, a girl named Polly, an old man named Andrew, a horse, and Jadis."

"Jadis?" Caspian echoes. "As in…?"

Cornelius folds his hands over his belly. "I'm afraid so, yes. The White Witch."

Caspian's face hardens. As a boy, stories of her cruelty and the chill of winter raised the hair on the back of his neck. He remembers her, beckoning him from the ice, and the voices of her servants demanding he give them satisfaction. He remembers the sting of a clean cut across his palm, and the far deadlier cut that nearly killed the woman he loved.

No one hates better than us.

He remembers it well.

Addie does, too, though she has no scar for it.

"Tell me how," he says. "Every detail."

Unfortunately, there's not much for Addie to tell. She found a few references to Jadis arriving in Narnia with the others by way of the rings. She was said to have Giant or similar ancestry, and she came from another world - but not England or Narnia. Unfortunately, the name has been lost to time.

"Then not only are we unsure where the pools lead, we also know the rings first brought the White Witch into Narnia? And you would experiment with them, knowing this?" Caspian looks incredulously between the Doctor and Addie, then shakes his head. "Out of the question."

Cornelius and Addie trade a glance. At the Doctor's nod, Addie speaks.

"It might not be as dangerous as you - we - think. When I fell into Narnia, I had time to see where I was falling. If Doctor Cornelius and I take a single set, emerge in the Wood, mark the pool we came from immediately, put on a green ring, and jump in again, we'll know within a minute if we're headed toward Narnia or not."

Caspian grits his teeth in warning. "That is still too much risk, Addie."

Doctor Cornelius interlaces his fingers. "With respect -"

"I forbid it," Caspian says. "I will not risk my kingdom or your life on reckless experimentation. Find another way."

Let that be the end of it. No experiments, no reckless magical trips into the unknown. If nothing more can be known about the rings, then…

Then Addie must stay in Narnia.

It is Addie who breaks the silence.

"What if I went alone?"

Caspian's gaze snaps to her. Addie meets his eyes with deceptive calmness. He knows the spark of defiance that lurks underneath. In moments like this, Addie's penchant for disobedience is not a virtue.

"That would solve nothing," he says. Every risk he detailed for Doctor Cornelius and Addie's travels applies to her travelling alone.

"Wouldn't it?" Addie leans on the table, notes abandoned in her lap. "If I go alone, you're not risking your Lord Chancellor. If I turn around and try to go back to Narnia and the pool leads somewhere else, I can just keep trying until I find it. Then we'd know for sure, and Doctor Cornelius and I would continue researching here."

Doctor Cornelius shifts, but Caspian speaks first.

"The rings cannot leave Narnian custody," he says sharply. "Not until they are fully understood or we know how to destroy them." Addie's lips part in argument he preempts. "Suppose I let you take them, even a single pair. What would happen if you fell asleep in the Wood?"

Addie scowls. "The magic doesn't work that fast, and I was able to snap myself out of it. As I was saying -"

"Moreover," Caspian continues, "we don't know how many more pairs exist, or who else can access the Wood. Another witch could be lurking there waiting for unwitting travellers. All they would need to do is grab you as you sank into the pool."

"No one else was there," Addie snaps. "And most world-travelling to and from Narnia goes through Aslan, not the Wood. That's according to every record we've unearthed so far! As I was saying, if I find Narnia before England, I just come back and we continue researching."

"And if you find England first?" asks Doctor Cornelius.

A strange look crosses Addie's face - too sharp for regret, too soft for frustration.

"Then I leave the yellow ring behind. Take it off when I recognise Romsey, or wherever I'd end up, and give it back to the Wood. With just the green ring, I couldn't go anywhere."

"And what would happen to the ring?" Caspian says.

"Either it'd get sucked back into the Wood, or it'd float in the in-between."

Doctor Cornelius hums, his fingers steepled. "Breaking the pairs would prevent their use by anyone, good or ill."

"And if the rings are somehow bonded?" Caspian counters. "The green ring could summon the yellow, or the opposite, and the problem would remain. To say nothing of what might happen to you if the rings are separated while you're mid-journey."

All too many words to say "No."

Addie scratches the table with her nail, her face caught between frustration or recklessness or something else. Caspian forces himself to take a breath and address her directly.

"I understand you want to go home, but I must balance your desire with the lives of every citizen of Narnia, and the peoples beyond our borders. If another Hundred Year Winter came to pass…"

He trails off, their eyes locked. Addie meets him head-on, unflinching and tenacious.

How much are you willing to risk to run away from me?

"I cannot allow that to happen. I cannot risk it," Caspian says with finality. "You will continue to research the rings through secondary means. Until I am satisfied, live experimentation with the rings is forbidden. I won't let you risk yourself, Addie, let alone my kingdom."

Turning to Cornelius, he continues with the title the Doctor rarely uses.

"And you, Lord Chancellor, surely understand how important your position is. Narnia can ill-afford to lose its most preeminent scholar, especially when we are just beginning to recover our history and culture. You will not experiment with the rings either." Caspian sighs. "I cannot lose you."

He carefully restrains himself from looking to Addie.

"Is that understood?"

Doctor Cornelius and Addie trade a look, weightier than Caspian would like. He's not forgotten that they once colluded together behind his back - years ago, but between Addie's persistence and the professor's eagerness to usher her out of Narnia, Caspian would be a fool to not be wary.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Doctor finally says, solemn in his resignation.

Caspian turns to Addie. Her hazel eyes blaze back, the clearest challenge she's shown since returning. Stubborn, stubborn woman, and at the worst times.

"Addie?"

Her jaw clenches, but she agrees, albeit grudgingly. "Understood."

There, it is settled. Caspian relaxes slightly, armour groaning as his back meets the chair. "As for the research, do you believe Cair Paravel's archive has been exhausted?"

Doctor Cornelius affirms as much. "For now, yes. It is possible Trufflehunter will find more first-age documents, though I think it somewhat unlikely they will contain anything new about the rings."

"Then we wait for news from Trufflehunter," Caspian says.

"I might as well go back to help." Addie gathers her notes into a semi-neat stack and sets them on the table. "Better than just waiting here."

Caspian stifles a frustrated grunt. He and Doctor Cornelius already concluded Addie's return to the Cair would accomplish little and was therefore not worthwhile. While the Doctor contested the latter - "There's no harm in allowing Adelaine to return to the excavations." - Caspian is not inclined to bother with either another ship or a small contingent of guards for Addie's journey.

"Such a journey requires either a riverboat or an accompanying guard to ride with you, neither of which is readily available."

Addie waves, distracted with her papers. "Then put me on a supply barge. Those sail both up- and downriver, right?"

"The next one does not leave for a month."

Addie flops back into her chair and exhales, a brief show of annoyance before her features smooth into determination. "Alright. Until then, what about Ettinsmoor?"

The northern lands? What could she possibly find interesting there?

"What about it?" Caspian says. Doctor Cornelius, too, appears puzzled.

"Lady Opheodra mentioned she might have some records from the Age of Conquest - or her husband might've."

Doctor Cornelius strokes his moustache, eyes narrowed. "Lady Opheodra has never mentioned such a collection to me."

Addie's eyes sharpen. "They were her late husband's things. She's been grieving."

Caspian frowns. Grieving or not, Lady Opheodra should have come forward with this before now. All of Narnia knows Doctor Cornelius is seeking records of the old ages. Caspian even sent out decrees to that effect in recent months.

Grief is not so neatly resolved, even over years.

Caspian traces the chair arm's wooden swirl. He can understand that, better than most.

Even so, Ettinsmoor is not safe.

"The wolves could return," Caspian says. "It's best you wait for Trufflehunter's missives here in the capital."

Addie arches an eyebrow. "You mean the next supply barge?"

Caspian considers her - bright eyes, gaze unwavering, stubborn mouth, chin set high. Addie is bound and determined to leave this capital on any errand.

"Yes, that. Now, if you will excuse me."

"Of course," says Doctor Cornelius.

Addie stands, curtsies shallowly, and says nothing.

Caspian bids them good day and leaves before he's tempted to linger.

Addie

Sit on her arse for a month waiting for a supply barge to arrive or someone else to hunt down answers?

Like hell.

The full moon shines silver-white overhead as Addie shoulders her travel bag and nods to the bridge guards - two centaurs standing stoic and silent. She's arranged everything with the headmistress, left an apology note for Perla and another for Doctor Cornelius, and said another temporary goodbye to Lola and Cesare.

She needs to get out of this city. More accurately, she needs to stop caring one whit about Caspian or Lilliandil, his soon-to-be blushing bride, and she can't do that in Caspian's castle.

The wolf pack's been dealt with, and she'll be gone for less than a month. It's not as dangerous as Caspian thinks. Besides, Lady Opheodra travels with guards.

Addie walks to the house with ivy hanging from the windows and raps on the dark green door.

A/N: So, did you guess right?

And before y'all mourn me splitting Cas and Addie into different locations again, take a peek at the chapter preview 😇 I've been very excited for the next section for a lot of reasons, and I think y'all will be too!

Chapter 74 Preview:

Adelaine,

Your determination is to be commended, though your judgement is not. I seem to remember urging you to stay in the capital, but as you have likely reached Lady Opheodra's manor by now, I will not demand your return. Seek what you must in the north. I only ask that you keep myself and Doctor Cornelius apprised of your progress, however small it may be. A weekly missive will suffice.

The Doctor and myself await your confirmation.

Cordially,

Caspian X, King of Narnia